Month: November 2024

The Shiai-Seihō and Aliveness in Yagyū Shinkage-ryū Practice

Let us now consider at how Yagyū Shinkage-ryū is practiced, particularly in relation to levels of “aliveness.” The Yagyū Shinkage-ryū curriculum is broadly divided into two groups: the honden (original teachings) and the gaiden (supplemental teachings). The honden are the tachi devised and passed down by Kamiizumi Hidetsuna and Yagyū Munetoshi (including beginner’s versions of two of these forms devised by 5th soke Yagyū Renya and 6th soke Lord Tokugawa Mitsutomo). The gaiden are made up of the shiai-seihō devised by assistant instructor Nagaoka Fusashige, plus some unique forms developed by Renya.

Read More

Part 3 – Later Historical Record of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū

There is little written about Yagyū Shinkage-ryū as it was in the 1700s. Renya’s nephew Toshinobu succeeded him as head of the family and instructor to the Owari Tokugawa. He took the ryū into the 18th century, and then passed it on to his son Toshitomo, who then passed it on to his son Toshiharu.

Nagaoka Fusashige

One of Toshiharu’s students was a man named Nagaoka Tōrei Fusashige. Nagaoka inherited from his father the position of shihan-hosa, assistant instructor to the sōke. Nagaoka’s official post in the Owari Domain was to train martial arts, particularly Shinkage-ryū, and to write about them. Toshiharu was succeeded by his son Toshiyuki, but Toshiyuki died at a relatively young age, and was succeeded by his teenage son, Toshihisa. But then Toshihisa also died at age 20, when his own son, Toshishige, was still a baby. Toshiharu’s younger brother, Toshimasa, together with Nagaoka, kept things together until Toshishige could come of age and grow into his role as sōke.

Read More

Part 2 – Early Historical Record of Shiai Within Yagyū Shinkage-ryū

We will now look at mentions of shiai in the early historical record, stretching from the mid-1500s to the 1700s. One thing I did not wish to do with this series was just appeal to my authority as a practitioner. So I have tried to rely as much as possible on primary sources. These are available in Japanese due to the work of the late Imamura Yoshio, professor emeritus at Tokyo University of Education, in particular, his mammoth two-volume work Shiryō Yagyū Shinkage-ryū (Historical Materials of Yagyū Shinkage-ryū), which provided transcriptions of a great number of historical documents related to Yagyū Shinkage-ryū.

Read More

Part 1 – Introduction

With this series of articles, I would like to address a certain dissatisfaction with the common debates one sees online regarding koryū, kata training and sparring or what is called “aliveness.” These are typically framed in very binary ways, something I find incongruent with both my own experience of practice, my understanding of the history of koryū in general, and Yagyū Shinkage Ryū Heihō (YSR) in specific.

• This part will be an introduction to the argument I am addressing, the terms with which I will address it, a very general look at the history of shiai in classical Japanese martial traditions, and some of my own conclusions and speculations.
• Part 2 will be an examination of the appearance of shiai in the early historical record of YSR. Fortunately, the historical record is relatively well-preserved, and has been printed in a number of different modern sources.
• Part 3 will look at the modern (post-Meiji) history of shiai in YSR.
• Finally, in Part 4, I would like to present the YSR approach to kata and free training, specifically through the lens of what we call the “shiai-seihō,” or “shiai-gata.” I’ll note that this material is adapted from private presentations I’ve made elsewhere.

Read More